Under the hood of a snowmobile are many different electrical components that need to be securely attached so that they do not jostle around during operation of the vehicle. Amongst others, these components could include headlights, an ignition coil, a fuel tank vent pipe, a stepper motor, a km/MPH converter, an electrical wire harness, an electronic control unit (ECU), exhaust pipe temperature sensor wires, a fuse box, an engine reverse buzzer, a capacitor, etc.
In the past, these components were typically attached either directly to the engine, to the hood, to a portion of the snowmobile frame or to other parts of the snowmobile that were immovable. Typically, these components needed a specialized bracket to hold them securely in place. Alternatively, hose clamps or threaded fasteners such as screws would be used to fasten the components in place. In any event, prior-art snowmobiles required a number of brackets, screws and tie wraps which take quite a lot of time to attach during assembly of the vehicle, therefore increasing the cost of the vehicle. Furthermore, during maintenance of the vehicle, these components take a lot of time to disassemble, which again represents additional costs and time loss to the end-user.
Moreover, some of the front-end components are sensitive to vibrations, such as motors used to drive valves. One prior-art technique for isolating vibration-sensitive components is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,323 (Ashida) entitled EXHAUST CONTROL SYSTEM FOR SNOWMOBILE ENGINE. Ashida teaches that a drive motor for the exhaust valves is attached to a portion of the frame (e.g. the steering column, the bumber, etc.) rather than directly to the engine in order to reduce engine vibrations transmitted to the vibration-sensitive drive motor. However, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, vibration-sensitive components attached to the frame will still experience vibrations through the frame (although usually not in the same frequency range and not of the same magnitude as the engine vibrations).
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to provide a snowmobile in which front-end components are quickly and easily assembled and disassembled and where these components are at least partially isolated from the deleterious effects of engine and frame vibrations.